Infact I'm a new driver period. From the UK just passed my test a month ago at the age of 39. Left driving alone for many years as I've always lived in London so generally seen it as a hassle and expensive but finally decided to get it done.

Anyway I'm about to buy a 2014 Mazda 3 SE-L as it looked decent. 62'000 miles, 2L engine, 118bhp. Only thing it doesn't come with Sat nav but I hear you can buy this SD card off eBay and just insert it and it should work fine? Is this correct?

Anything else I need to know about this particular model?

I'm hoping this is a good car for a first purchase. I'm quite anxious about finally driving it and driving unsupervised for the first time! Insurance isn't cheap but my age helps.

 

Welcome to the forum

 

Thanks. So I have a real issue with this 2014 Mazda 3 that I'm planning to buy from this used car dealership. So basically, I already put down a non refundable deposit of £200 last week but before purchasing the vehicle, I had a comprehensive AA check on the car for peace of mind.

The AA check broght up zero red issues but a few in the Amber section, the primary one of which was something to do with the master brake cyclinder. It says "visible leaks seen possibly from the master brake cyclinder, requires further investigation" So that worries me as that could be potentially dangerous but it wasn't classified as red. Everything else seemed OK. Some general wear and tear on the tyres, offside rear brake disc show signs of pitting and wear and tear, mechanically car drives fine, exterior and interior is fine etc.

The other concern I have is that when I checked the MOT history, it did fail last in early 2022 due to front brake pipes being corroded, rear brake side pad less than 1.5mm thick - dangerous defect, parking brake lever has excessive movement. Now according to the history this was all corrected on the same day as it then says pass on the same day and driven a mile. The last MOT done in Feb of this year was a pass and driven an extra 6000 miles. So based on that I'm assuming the serious errors were all fixed otherwise no way it would have been driven. BUT there is no service record apparently and thus no evidence that they were indeed fixed.

So I'm guessing I need to obtain the V5C number in order to get these details. And I should push the dealership to provide all the documentation and fix that master brake cyclinder before I even considering buying the car.

What are your thoughts? I'm annoyed I put down a deposit, I should have really walked the moment they didn't provide me with all the documentation. But at least I haven't gone ahead and bought the car although I've entered into a contract to buy it, I can just walk if they don't provide the required documentation.